Lord Of The Flies.

The first book that I read is called Lord Of The Flies by William Golding. This book was really interesting to me in a lot of ways mainly because it taught me that making decisions is based on more than your own desires and that you should appreciate the life that you have because you never know when you will lose it or have to change it in a short amount of time. Basically the book is about a group of boys all under 13 who are all stuck on an island with no adult supervision. They try and make rules and create their own society, but end up failing in many ways. Being so young it is hard for them to navigate through the choices they need to make to survive.

- This is one of the essays I have written to describe the theme of civilization and savagery in the book.

In the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding civilization vs. savagery is a big theme. On one side of the island it is believed that everyone should be civilized, but on the other side of the island the boys are wild and think that this is the better way to live. They used different tools including fire Piggy’s glasses and a conch shell to show the differences on how they go about doing things. In the end both sides have struggles just like people in everyday life.

Civilization is important in the book and in society because to have order you need to have some rules because this will help things get accomplished faster and make it less of a chance for mistake to happen. Using the conch shell is a big example of order on the island. This one method saves the boys from a lot of fights and proves that being civilized and having some sort of decency is necessary for survival. Having a leader or leaders is also a sign of being civilized. In this case both sides of the island have leaders. Fire is one of the resources on the island that is used differently for all of the boys. On the civilized side they use fire for rescue. Signal fire is a smart idea. But how it was used was a different argument. They had to make rules and assign jobs to keep the fire up. The boys continue to argue about the location of the fire and how they would use it. They just wanted to get the task done.

On the savagery side of the island they wanted to hunt and play with the fire, not use the conch shell anymore and just play around and have fun. With all the chaos the boys ended up hurting Piggy. Also Piggy’s glasses were broken from the foolish behavior of him and the other boys. Piggy wanted to say something but the boys never wanted to listen. He finally got the conch and it was his turn to speak. Everyone got rowty and started throwing rocks. One hit Piggy and the conch. It broke and he fell forty feet to his death. The careless nature of the boys caused Piggy to fall to his death.

Today in life we have to choose between civilization and savagery just like the boys do in the book. They made mistakes, good and bad, but at the end of the book I think that with them being so young it caused them to make decisions and grow up faster than they could handle.

In the end I think that I learned a lesson from the book. It taught me that the struggles we face have to be handled regardless of how impossible they may seem. You can either chose civilization or savagery. You just have to choose wisely.

The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn.

The next book that I read is called The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. This book is about a boy's life from the south during the time of slavery. The boys name is Huckleberry Finn also known as Huck. He struggles with his morals and everyone else's opinion on slavery. He try's to do the right thing but with other people saying that he is doing wrong he often has to lie to stand up for himself or his african american slave friend. He meets many people along the way and braves the world hoping to free Jim. The character named Jim is a good person with good intentions. Although since he is a slave he does not have the rights and freedom he deserves. Huck sees this and wants to help him. He ends up succeeding and at the end of the book Jim is announced as a "free man."

- The essay that I wrote for this book tells about how myself relates to the character Huck.

In the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark
Twain, Huck has a lot of struggles and choices everyday growing up. In my life
I also notice that I have struggles like family, friends, and morals. We deal
with them both similarly and differently.
Family is very important. Huck doesn’t really have a family
or anyone to look up to. His dad is a crazy drunk who takes out anger on him.
Huck’s mom is not around so he lives with widow Douglas and her sister Miss
Watson. My parents are still in my life so they don’t have that many
similarities although the people Huck lives with want him to be well educated
and civilized, just like my parents want for me. In the book Huck runs away
from home, I also have done the same. Huck is an only child, so we both have
grown up without any siblings. So in the end we both have hard times dealing
with the people in our lives, parents or not.
The next thing we can compare in our lives is our
friendships. In the beginning Huck has a bunch of wild and adventurous friends
who like to do the same things that he likes to do. That relates to me a lot
because I also have friends who like to do the same things that I do. Later
Huck grows really close to Jim and they find out that it doesn’t matter what
color your skin is, or what other people think as long as you’re happy. In my
life I have a friend who wasn’t really accepted in our group of friends at
school. Nothing stopped me from hanging out with her. Just like Huck I don’t
judge people based on appearance. We have a lot of values in common when we
choose the people in our lives.
Finally Huck shows what morals he has. He has the intentions
of having good morals, but sometimes the way he does things makes him look like
a bad person. He lies a lot, but when he does lie its to help the situation. In
my life my lies are not always with good intentions. In the book Huck is not
selfish. In my life I think I try not to be selfish but sometimes I will put
myself first. Huck and I have the same thoughts about slavery, although I have
not had to deal with it in my own life because times have changed.
After reading the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by
Mark Twain Huck and I do have many similarities in the ways we choose to live
our lives, but we also have differences which is okay because that makes us
individuals. Therefore I was able to relate to this book and understand some of
the problems and achievements of Huck and some of the other characters.

The Outsiders.

Another book that I chose to read is called The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. This was my second time reading this book, and it is my favorite. The book is based in the 1960's. It is about two rival gangs the Greasers and the Socs. They fight and all try and prove that they are on top. Two of the Greasers end up getting involved in a murder and have to disguise themselves to avoid getting into trouble. Finally they realize that maybe it is best to just do the honest thing and turn themselves in they see that the abandoned church where they had been staying had caught on fire! They drove up to the scene and there were children trapped inside. They saved them and ended up being recognized as being heros. The book is full of crazy action, sadness and adventure. I would recommend it to anyone.

- My last essay that I wrote for this book is about all of the virtues of a persons character that some of the characters in the book have.

In the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton there are three main virtues of character that I believe that relate so well to the virtues some of the characters in this book have. They are perseverance, responsibility, and loyalty.

The first virtue is perseverance. This virtue does not only relate to one character. Pony Boy even though stuck in the middle of some very hard to handle and deal with issues still strives to work on all aspects of his life and stay a good person. He doesn’t let this one issue get the best of him. The next character that I think shows this quality is Johnny. He had to persevere through committing a murder, his parents being abusive, and even through the pain of dying. Although these two characters may have shown their perseverance I believe that every character in this book pretty much had to show perseverance in their own way.

Responsibility is also another one of the important virtues for the boys in this book. Darry is the one out of all of the characters to me who shows the most responsibility over all. He takes care of the whole gang including his two brothers and makes sure that everyone is always doing what they are supposed to do. He took on all of this after the death of his parents and to me that shows great courage and responsibility. The other characters in this book are also responsible. Like Pony Boy with school and Soda Pop for work. This is necessary that everyone takes responsibility in the book because that is how things stay put together.

The last and final virtue that I'm going to mention is loyalty. To me reading this book I find the whole gang one group of loyal people. They are always trying to help each other out and solve each other’s problems. They are always there for one another and always have each other’s back. The group is like a big family. They protect one another, no matter what. This is the characteristic that separates them from their label as a greaser.

To conclude all of the characters in this novel have so many good qualities and virtues that it is hard not to name more than just three. But I think that these stood out the most in this novel and that it is very important to “stay gold” and keep the virtues that make you a good and unique person.

Your Pregnancy & Newborn Journey.

As a part of the teen parent program I read this book about being pregnant and what life after having the baby will look like. This book was very good for me because I didn't really grow up around any children or anyone who has been pregnant and it taught me what to be expecting. Also it gave me some helpful hints and tips to make this situation the best it can possibly be. I got to see that being a teen mom is not bad as long as you have the knowledge to make smart decisions and good choices.- For my assignment I chose to research the positive options of breastfeeding.I am going to be breast feeding my baby because it has many benefits to the mom and the baby. Some of the good things about breast feeding are that you form a close bond with your baby, you provide your baby with all of the healthy nutrients and vitamins they need, and it can help the mom lose the extra weight from the pregnancy a lot quicker. You can make a big difference in your childs life by choosing to breast feed them.First, when you start breast feeding it can help you and your baby become very close. Your baby could really develope a trust and some sense of safeness and comfort with you as their parent. The baby likes to spend time with you and be able to be held close to you. Breast feeding gives you both the time to spend together. Your baby would much rather be held next to your warm body instead of being fed by a bottle or be fed by someone else. It is the natural way to know that you are doing what you should so that your baby's developemental needs are being met.The next benefit you provide is that you are able to give your baby a healthy meal. Breast milk has been studied and has shown that it is much more healthy than formula. It can also prevent your baby from becoming sick. There are special ingredients found in breast milk that are not found in any formula. The baby will gain its weight appropriatly and stay healthy as long as you are feeding them the right amount regularly. It is so much better because it has all of the natural things your baby needs. Therefore it is much better to use breast milk.For the mother it can have a lot of benefits as well. When you first give birth breast feeding stimulates your uterus to start the shrinking process. It also makes the extra weight you have gained come off in a shorter amount of time. Your body takes a lot of vitamins and nutrients from your body to put into the milk. Its important that you continue to eat healthy and take your prenatal vitamins after you deliver so that your body can make the milk and you don't get sick. It will make you feel so much better. As long as your baby is feeding and there are no other problems you should be able to continue to produce milk and breast feed your baby. If everything goes right and your doctor recommends it you should breast feed your baby for as long as possible.To conclude, it was a very easy decision for me to pick breast feeding over bottle feeding. The benefits are worth the possible struggles, and I know it will be the best thing I can do for my baby and me.

The Giver.

The final book that I read is called The Giver by Lois Lowry. This book was very interesting to me because it was about having to fight and work hard to get the things that you think are right to happen. The main character Jonas lives in a community where they force you to be the same as everyone else. There is no personal choice and everyone lives by a schedule. You live your childhood up until the age of twelve where you then are assigned a job in the community that you will work at until you reach the age of the old. Once you have reached that age you go to the home of the old and you will live there until they decided to release you. No one knows what happens to you when you are released except for the people assigned to take on that task. Jonas reaches the celebration of twelve where he is assigned the job of the receiver. It is the most important job in the community and he is respected highly for being assigned it. He starts training and is taught so much from the giver. What he learns about the community and life before the way he has been looking at the world made him have to change his own ways and explore life on his own.

- The essay I wrote about this book answers the two questions about how the school in the book is similar to Yampah High School and how the community handles being naked.

In the school in the book they study subjects like math and science. They do not have very much choice in the classes they take. They have a very unchangeable schedule. Here at Yampah we have a very flexible schedule with many different classes that we are able to take such as yearbook. The thing that is similar about our schools is that we both go and do things in our community and do projects that relate to real life. They learn about the jobs they might be able to have once they reach the age of twelve. We do the same thing except for when we get out of high school. I think that all of the subjects taught in both schools are very important and need to be taught so that all of the children can have knowledge of many things.

When Jonas bathes the older woman at the House of the Old he realizes that it is strange that babies and the old can be naked in front of others. The community does not want others looking at each other in a sexual way or in a way that there could be some sort of judgement placed upon them. Jonas was very curious as to how she could just lay there in nakedness. That was the purpose in the quote "... as she lay in the water unprotected, exposed and free"I think Jonas himself realizes that he does have some type of attraction for women, but he doesn't know exactly what it is because the community other than the birth mothers are prohibited from any sexual contact with one another.